Southern France

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the former Languedoc-Roussillon, where lavender, the Mediterranean coast and Roman ruins come together.

This region includes Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the five départements of the former Languedoc-Roussillon in the eastern half of Occitanie (Hérault, Gard, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Lozère). Areas west of Toulouse belong to Southwestern France, Lyon and Grenoble to the north belong to East-Central France, and Corsica is listed separately; Monaco is an independent country but is often visited together with Nice. Provence has the Palais des Papes in Avignon, the Roman ruins of Arles and Van Gogh's footsteps, the Luberon villages of Gordes and Roussillon, the lavender fields of the Valensole Plateau, the Verdon Gorge and Lake Sainte-Croix, the Old Port of Marseille and the Calanques, and Aix-en-Provence, hometown of Cézanne. The Côte d'Azur has Nice, Cannes, Antibes, Èze and the hill town of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. On the Languedoc side are the Pont du Gard, the Nîmes amphitheatre, Montpellier, the double-walled old city of Carcassonne, the Cévennes and the Gorges du Tarn, and the Camargue wetlands. A classic route: Marseille/Aix – Luberon – Avignon – Arles in 2–3 days, plus 1–2 days for Valensole and the Verdon Gorge, then 3 days along the coast to Nice; allow another 3 days for Languedoc. The whole trip takes 7–10 days. The TGV from Paris to Marseille or Avignon takes about 3 hours, and Nice and Marseille have international airports; hill towns and lavender fields require a car or an organized tour. The lavender bloom is short and weather-dependent, and harvesting runs through mid-to-late July; in summer high temperatures and wildfire risk mean some trails close temporarily. Watch for pickpockets in seaside cities.

Destinations

Itineraries